Scottish Rugby, IRFU & WRU to launch women’s Celtic Challenge pilot

In year one the tournament will see one team from each Union compete in a series of home and away fixtures over a six-week period commencing at the end of January 2023.  Each team will play two games at home and two games away with the competition concluding four weeks prior to the start of the 2023 TikTok Six Nations Championship.

The ambition is to launch a full, six-team tournament in 2024 featuring two sides from each Union.

Scottish Rugby will be represented by The Thistles, with the coaching set-up to be confirmed in the new year. The squad will comprise of rising talent within the Scottish Futures programme and Tennent’s Premiership, alongside home-based contracted players.

Scottish Rugby’s Head of Women & Girls’ Strategy, Gemma Fay, said: “This announcement is another key part of our 2022-2026 Women & Girls’ Strategy, helping us provide an additional level of competition and creating better opportunities for our best players based in Scotland.

“I’m delighted we are working together with IRFU and WRU to progress the women’s game and we are excited to learn as much as we can from this pilot year which will allow us to develop the Celtic Challenge moving forward.”

The IRFU will be represented in the 2023 edition by a Combined Provinces XV under the guidance of the national team coaching group led by Greg McWilliams and John McKee and they will play their home fixtures at the home of Ulster Rugby, the Kingspan Stadium in Belfast.

IRFU Head of Women’s Performance and Pathways, Gillian McDarby, commented: “The three partner Unions have worked closely together to put the necessary supports in place to help establish this competition.  It is vital at this stage of the sports’ development that we establish sustainable competition models that bridge the gap between the player pathway and the international game.”

The WRU will be represented by the [WRU Development XV] led by Wales forwards coach Mike Hill and assisted by WRU Lead Female Pathway Coach Liza Burgess and Rhys Pritchard.

The squad will be made up of a mix of young, up and coming players and club players with eyes very much focussed on developing players for the 2025 Rugby World Cup and beyond.

WRU Performance Director, Nigel Walker, said: “We are very excited by this new opportunity to develop players on the female performance pathway. This is very much a starting point with one team per country in this pilot year but the training programme and matches will provide an invaluable experience for Welsh players with ambitions to play international rugby to improve and test themselves in a performance environment.”

Fixture details with locations and kick-off times will be fully confirmed by the respective Home Unions when these are finalised.

Celtic Challenge fixtures

The Thistles v Welsh Developmment XV
Sunday 22 January, kick-off 2.30pm – Scotstoun Stadium, Glasgow
Register for free tickets

Welsh Development XV v Combined Provinces XV
Sunday 29^th January 2023 – Cardiff Arms Park

Combined Provinces XV v The Thistles
Saturday 4^th February 2023 – Kingspan Stadium, Belfast

Welsh Development XV v The Thistles
Saturday 11^th February – Cardiff Arms Park

Combined Provinces XV v Welsh Development XV
Saturday 18^th February 2023 – Kingspan Stadium, Belfast

The Thistles v Combined Provinces XV
Saturday 25^th February, kick-off 1.30pm – DAM Health Stadium, Edinburgh
Register for free tickets

Updated 12/01/2023